A/N: It is I , the worst updater ever, bringing you a new chapter after nearly two months. I will just say school, personal issues and the worst writer's block ever are to blame for the lateness. In all honesty, I am not really satisfied with this chapter, but I just couldn't keep you waiting anymore. Enjoy and read you soon!

Chapter 15: A Haunting Truth

I'm still standing here in front

Of your soul

Looking into your fireless eyes

Right now I'm one too many

It's hard to say you may believe it

-Soul into Hades by Lacuna Coil

In all the centuries of his immortal existence, Magnus had only experience terror; true, numbing, bone-chilling terror a handful of times. None of those could be compared to what he was feeling right now. As he stared at Sonneillon, who was grinning manically while holding a shining blue orb of light, he realized that no horror he had ever experienced could be worse than this nightmare.

Alec could not be dead.

Breaking the curse would have been so easy, if it weren't for your pride. That sentence kept repeating itself in his mind. Over and over and over again.

His head was throbbing and he felt confused, that was probably why it took him so long to realize that Sonneillon had not left. Truthfully the demon was staring down at him with an expectant look on his face.

"Utter despair suits you well, Halfling" Sonneillon said, not bothering to conceal the hate and glee in his voice "Never forget this day" he taunted "Pride, not heartbreak, has been your folly. And now thanks to that, the greatest love of your immortal life lies at your feet, nothing but a soulless husk"

It was then that Magnus finally put the pieces together. He looked back up and stared at the demon's hand, or rather, at the beautiful sky-colored sphere of light he was holding in his filthy hands.

Alec's soul.

Magnus didn't understand what came over him at that moment. He only knew that he needed to get his Alexander's soul from that demon, if he did, maybe his Nephilim could still be saved. He rose from the floor, ignoring the maddened cries of the shadowhunters, and launched himself at Sonneillon.

Sonneillon merely cackled and raised his free hand high above his head. There was a deep booming sound, like thunder splitting the sky and a flash of blinding light. When it faded Sonneillon was nowhere to be found.

Come look for me if you dare, warlock. Avenge your little angel's demise.

Black spots danced around the downworlder's eyes and he blinked over and over to get rid of them. He looked around and noticed the other shadowhunters –and daylighter- Isabelle was crumpled on the floor where she had landed after Sonneillon's attack, her face was bone pale and shell-shocked. Jace was closest to her, his golden eyes dull and lifeless in a way Magnus had never seen before, he too was pale and his lips were pierced into a thin line.

Clary and Simon were a few feet away, closer to the bed. They were no longer pinned to the carpeted floor and were instead sliding over to their respective partners. Clary embraced Jace with her small, thin arms but he made no move to reciprocate the action. Meanwhile Simon sat beside Isabelle, as close as possible, but he didn't try to hug her. She wouldn't appreciate it at the moment.

"What happened just now?" It was Simon who asked, and Magnus was pretty sure he meant that to be a rhetoric question, to break the silence and arrange his thoughts, but it didn't stop the brief spasm of red rage that flashed through him at the sheer stupidity of asking that.

"Sonneillon's curse was fulfilled and he claimed his prize" growled the warlock, walking towards Alec and kneeling beside his unmoving body, he started feeling at the fallen shadowhunter's throat and wrists. That was when Isabelle finally snapped out of her daze, she stalked her way towards Magnus, a deadly glare in her bone-white face and without a warning, struck him across his left cheek.

His head snapped to the side with momentum and he could feel a warm numbness in that whole side of his face. He stared at the girl with dumfounded shock and quite a bit of annoyance. He didn't have to wait long for an explanation, Isabelle was already hissing at him in shocked fury.

"This is all because of you!" She snarled, Simon had managed to restrain her with a motion that could pass as a hug, if not for the evident struggle Isabelle was facing, trying to free herself of her boyfriend's vampire-strong grip. Nonetheless, she still had the presence of mind to keep her distance from Magnus' hands while she yelled at him.

"Did you hear what that monster said?!" she spat, clearly she was nowhere near done with her tirade "You could have saved him! You could have broken Alec's curse if it weren't for your stupid pride! How many times did he go looking for you? How many of his calls did you ignore? Do you have any idea how hard he tried to explain to you?! But you would hear none of it! You condemned him! He who you claim to love so much! If another member of my family is dead because of you, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth! Clave and accords be damned, I swear on the angel, do you hear me?!"

Magnus kept quiet for a few moments. He knew Isabelle was right, she was entitled to her anger, and had their roles been switched. Had she been the cause of Alexander's demise, he knew he would have behaved in the exact same fashion, and yet he couldn't stop the sting her words brought, or the scorching daggers her accusations stabbed at his heart.

"Even you, child of the Nephilim, with all your angelic rage, cannot hate me as much as I hate myself right now"

"That's debatable" spat Jace, a few feet behind his sister. He looked stern and grim, but if Clary's steading arms around his waist were anything to go by, he would fall to pieces if he tried to move around too much.

Claryssa seemed the least stunned of the lot, along with Simon, who still had an armful of irate shadowhunter to deal with at present. The girl's face was blotchy and tear tracks were easily noticeable in her small face, still she squeezed her hands a bit tighter around her boyfriend's ear and whispered in his ear.

Magnus turned his attention back to Alec, he felt no pulse no heartbeat, but still he refused to give up. Alexander, his Alexander could not be dead.

"You want to know what that demon did to me? He placed a curse on me. A death curse! Just to spite you, because he thought it would make you suffer to watch me wither away and die."

Magnus shoved the memory away. He had tried to deny reality then, and because of that things had come this far. Never again

In that moment Magnus felt the faintest flutter underneath his fingers. There was a pulse! It was nearly non-existent, and threatened to fade at any moment, but still, it was the smallest thread of life, and it was enough. He turned to Simon and signaled for him to approach, the daylighter did, but he seemed confused, as were the other shadowhunters in the room.

"What do you need Simon for?" snapped Isabelle, with a hand around the vampire's wrist, as if to prevent him from going any farther.

"Alec is alive" was Magnus' only reply.

There was a collective gasp from the room and they all moved closer to the fallen member of their family. Isabelle cradled her brother's face and looked for signs of life at the pulse point in his neck, she looked up at the warlock in confusion.

"It's extremely faint, but it is a pulse" Magnus explained "Alexander's soul was ripped from his body. Under normal circumstances that would have meant certain death, especially with how physically weak he was. I'm guessing that the last trace of his Nephilim power is what allowed his body to keep functioning, even when his spirit was so brutally separated from it"

The looked at Simon again and pointed at him with his index finger "That's where you come in"

"Me? Why?" Simon thought, not for the first time, that even if he had acquired immortality and super-human strength when he became a vampire, he never seemed to have acquired his share of downworlder cunning, which would have been very helpful in more than one occasion.

"Because you are a daylighter" Magnus stated, as if that was supposed to explain everything "Your blood allows you to walk under the sun, heal injuries and even raise the dead"

"So…you think feeding Alec with Simon's blood will make him wake up?" Jace asked, both apprehension and hope warring in his features.

Magnus shook his head "He won't wake up until his soul is restored, but Simon's blood can place him in a state of suspended animation and buy us some time. If Alec's bodily functions were to stop and his body died then he would be gone, for good"

All eyes turned to Simon expectantly and he couldn't help but feel a bit insulted, even under the dire circumstances. Did they honestly think he wouldn't do it? True, his and Alec's relationship wasn't easy. But Izzy's brother had never mistreated or insulted him, and he behaved as sullen around him as he did with anyone who was not his family or Magnus. Simon stepped forward and extended his hand, letting his wrist show about two inches in front of Magnus' face.

"Do it" Simon stated crisply "Did you really think I would refuse?"

Isabelle breeched the small distance that separated them and stood right beside him, so did Clary, Jace came closer, but still loomed a couple of feet back, though he gave Simon a brief nod. Which, coming from Jace, was a big gesture.

Magnus moved his fingers with a flourish and small blue flames danced on his fingertips, materializing a small crystal vial that he took with his left hand. Magnus handed the vial to Simon and clasped the vampire's hand for a few seconds before letting go and stepping back.

"Just a few drops will be enough. You don't have to exsanguinate yourself"

Simon took his wrist into his mouth and bit down hard, puncturing the skin with his fangs. Blood started to flow from the small wounds and he let a few fat drops fall into the crystal container until it was filled to the brim, since the vial was small, it didn't take long. When he was done, he handed the vial to Magnus and went back to stand beside Izzy, his wound already healed.

Before they did anything, Jace took Alec into his arms and laid him down on Isabelle's bed, making him comfortable among their sister's numerous pillows and heavy comforter, Izzy appeared at Jace's opposite said and lovingly caressed her fallen brother's face, pushing back some stray strands of dark hair from his closed eyes with her fingers.

"We are going to save you" She said to him, touching her forehead to her brother's "This time we are going to save you, and everything will be all right again"

After the brief display of fraternal love, Isabelle stepped away from her four poster bed and made room for Magnus. The warlock kneeled beside Alexander's figure and placed one of his brown hands on top of the boy's chest, sensing for a heartbeat that was no longer there.

"I am so sorry" Magnus declared, letting a single tear slide down his angular face, none of the other spectators seemed to notice, and if they did they didn't comment on it. The downworlder bent down and kissed Alec on the cheek, near the edge of his colorless lips. He couldn't bring it upon himself to kiss his shadowhunter on the mouth; He didn't deserve that honor yet, and it wouldn't be sensible to do it in Alexander's current state.

Once Magnus finished his apology he took out the small vial that contained Simon's blood and, using the pad of his thumb, opened Alec's mouth and poured the crimson liquid into his mouth. At first there was no reaction from the fallen Nephilim's body, but after a long minute, Alec gave a short, silent intake of breath that startled all the occupants of the room. Magnus checked for his beloved's pulse, and he sensed a faint flash of elation stir within him when he felt it, slower and weaker that a normal pulse but there, right where it should be. The warlock had a hard time quenching that tiny treacherous fragment of hope.

"Wait, won't that make him into a vampire's subjugate once we get him back?" Isabelle inquired, her voice almost a shriek.

"If he were fully healthy and not missing his soul, then yes" Magnus conceded, wiping a corner of Alec's mouth that had been smeared with blood "But in this case, Alec's body is so deteriorated and weak, the blood doesn't have anything to act upon. The spell I chanted over it and its natural properties as a daylighter's blood is what will keep Alec just alive enough for us to have a chance at rescuing him"

"So…" started Jace, fidgeting in his place "How much time does this give us?"

Magnus shrugged "I would guess that the reaction is different for each body, but this should last around three days. That's all the time I need"

The last statement was said with a voice that exuded grim determination. Magnus would find Sonneillon, and this time he would destroy the demon for good.

"Don't you mean "we"?" stated Isabelle, catching Magnus off-guard.

"Beg your pardon?" He asked, still confused.

"That's all the time we need. We are coming with you"

There was no doubt in her voice, and Magnus understood that arguing would accomplish nothing and would only represent a waste of time. Besides, they were Alec's family, it was their right to fight for their brother.

"Indeed you will" He said, admitting defeat.

"What do we do now?" Asked Jace "We need to think of something to track this demon down"

Magnus meet the blond shadowhunter's eyes and smiled somberly "I think I know exactly where to find him"

Four sets of eyes looked up at him, both expectant and questioning.

"He will be waiting at the place where I first sealed him all those years ago"

"Well, at least that saves us the waiting" Clary said, attempting to sound cheerful.

They all stood near the bed for a few more minutes, trying to steal some last moments with Alec before going to meet Sonneillon. They had three days. Three they to get to that long forgotten place and fight Sonneillon. Three days to defeat him and retrieve Alexander's soul.

They all prayed to the angel that it was enough time.

So... Kind of a bland ending for this chapter, but I wanted to be able to give you and update soon, please review and tell me what you think. I have lost sight of where I wanted to go with this story, so feel free to share your own opinions in a review.